Day 12 - Herm

Beer drunk: 2 pints, Wine: 0 glasses, Cocktails: 1
Distance walked: 6km, Time taken: 1 1/2 hours

Spent the day on Herm, which is a tiny island just off the coast of Guernsey.  All my guidebooks agreed that it was only 6km in circumference and my GPS agreed.  I ambled around it an hour and a half as it isn't particularly hilly either.  Sark felt like it could easily be home to witches, pirates and smugglers.  Herm seems much more cuddly.  There are several shallow sandy bays that are easy to access so lots of families with young children were there.

Nothing much to report in the way of sights.  There is this curious obelisk.  Originally there were neolithic monuments on the tip of the island but the stone got used for buildings during the Victorian era.  When the local sailors complained about the lack of obelisk, which was an important day mark, this object was built to replace it.  I suppose it does the job.

I saw lots birds.  Gulls of all descriptions, plus several kestrels which are glorious to watch and also a genuine shag on a rock (but if flew away before I could photograph it).

After circumnavigating the island I settled in the at the Mermaid Tavern for food and beer.  I had a beef and ale pie, which was an interesting take on the dish.  It was plate of stew with a piece of puff pastry, which had been cooked separately, perched on top - see below (the first and only food photo in this blog).

There was a beer festival on the island over the past week.  About half of the craft beers had sold out but there were plenty of others left.  I settled into the beer garden with a book and sampled several of those available - an extremely pleasant afternoon.

I was planning on catching the 3:30pm ferry back to Guernsey but I'm wise in the ways of ferries now so I ambled in the direction of the dock at 2:45pm.  There was a long queue of people slowly getting on the ferry.  I joined in and we set sail at 3:05pm.  Not sure if it was the 2:35pm ferry leaving very late or the 3:35pm leaving very early.  Guess it doesn't matter.

When I got back to Guernsey there was a fair going on along the waterfront.  It was in aid of the local chapter of the RSPCA, the GSPCA.  In among the standard stalls of arty crafty stuff and tourist trinkets, there were food stalls with food for both people and dogs.  There were also some pet ferrets and parrots from the GSPCA.  I noticed the sign on one of the parrot cages that they can sometimes bite a bit too late.  My favourite stall was one where you could get a studio portrait taken - of your dog - not your child.

I then headed back to my hotel for a quick shower before starting to pack.  I discovered I had no hot water.  Someone had turned off my hot water heater - jumping the gun a bit as I don't check out until tomorrow morning.

I had dinner at the local chinese, China Red, which was rather more upmarket than that sounds.  They suggested I have a drink at the bar before having dinner.  Normally, I would have refused but I had 40 Guernsey pounds to spend so I thought why not.  They print their own money here on the Channel Islands.  They will accept pounds from the Bank of England but the mainland doesn't return the favour.  You can change your Channel Island pounds for English ones at a bank but I couldn't be bothered doing so for such a small amount.

After my drink, a caipirinha, I settled in at my table.  While the restaurant positions itself as an upmarket place it also does a brisk trade in takeaway food so they weren't precious about their tables and I got a good one in a good spot.  I started with BBQ pork spare ribs which were very good but very rich.  For main I had duck with a mix of mushrooms and jasmine rice.  The duck was on the rich side too.  In hindsight I should have got some greens too.   Even with a generous tip I still have 10 pounds left.  What to spend it on?